1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to chassis structures for motor vehicles. More particularly the present invention relates to rear structures for motor vehicles having driven rear wheels.
2. Disclosure Information
In the conventional motor vehicle, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of side frame members 1 are included having a kickup portion 3 where the frame sharply curves upward to provide clearance for the articulating axle 5. A load floor 7 of a body of the motor vehicle must be higher than this kickup portion 3 of the frame. As a result, the interior package space is constrained significantly by the height of the kickup portion 3 of the frame side members 1. This becomes particularly important where it is desirable to incorporate a third row seat 9 above the load floor. Satisfactory packaging of this third seat includes providing sufficient foot well space, indicated by line 1a, as well as sufficient headroom, indicated by line 2a. With this kickup frame design, the vehicle becomes longer and taller than may otherwise be desired simply to accommodate the third row seating.
It would be desirable to overcome the aforenoted difficulties with rear vehicle structure design by providing a simple, low cost vehicle structure capable of allowing a third row seat to be flexibly packaged for comfort or simply providing greater usable interior volume than has previously been available.